


Butterfly

by celestialteapot



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Being different, Bullying, Gen, Neurodivergent Snape Week, tourettes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-25
Updated: 2018-02-25
Packaged: 2019-03-23 21:01:06
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 698
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13796286
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/celestialteapot/pseuds/celestialteapot
Summary: Vignettes from Severus Snape's life with Tourettes (for neurodivergent Snape week on Tumblr).





	Butterfly

**Author's Note:**

> I do not have Tourettes but my very good friend and former colleague does. His tics aren’t vocal so that’s what I went with. A butterfly is the symbol of Tourettes awareness.

_ August, 1970 _

“Does it hurt?” Lily asked quietly, looking up at him with her green eyes.

“No.” He toyed with a leaf. “It's like..like needing to sneeze.”

Lily thought about this for a moment. “Can...can magic  _ fix _ \--”

“No.” He cut in.

“Oh.” She watched as he caught his sleeve, his shoulder jolting as he stopped his arm flinging out. She'd been afraid at first, at the strange boy whose body twitched and jerked, who told her stories about magical schools and strange dark creatures but now she couldn't imagine him without the tics. It bothered her that he felt the need to stop or suppress something he couldn't help. Reaching out, she pulled his hand away from his sleeve and gently rubbed the back of his hand with her thumb, smiling at him. He stared at his hand, reddening slightly and smiled back.

 

_ September, 1972 _

Severus flushed angrily as once again  _ Potter  _ and his gang of imbeciles flung their arms and jerked their bodies in a poor attempt at copying his tics as he walked passed the Gryffindor table. The rest of the Gryffindor’s roared with laughter and he turned quickly on his heel to face them but Mulciber & Avery grabbed his arms and pulled him away, steering him towards the Slytherin table. 

A Slytherin fifth year immediately moved a large jug of pumpkin juice out of Severus’s way as he dropped into a chair, still fuming. His tics were worse when he was upset, angry or stressed and to his amazement, once the curious questions were out of the way his house mates had simply accepted. Severus wished the rest of the school had been as accepting.

“Ignore them.” Avery murmured, watching Potter nastily out of the corner of his eye.

“Easy for you to say.” He said through gritted his teeth, trying to spoon porridge into a bowl and only succeeding in splattering it across the table. “Scourgify.” He snapped, pointing his wand at the mess.

“There are much better ways at getting revenge than getting angry with them.” Mulciber grinned and pulled out his notebook.

 

_ October, 1974 _

The loud crash of breaking ceramic filled the greenhouse and all eyes turned towards the source of the noise. Severus had managed for the second time that lesson to knock the fanged geranium he was working on off the table.

Flushing hotly, he grabbed the dustpan and brush Professor Sprout had left near him the first time and started trying to clear up the mess but his tics had become more and more pronounced. The growing laughter around him wasn’t helping either, Potter and his gang were copying him in their usual exaggerated style but out of the corner of his eye he could see Lily, her lips pursed in displeasure. 

“Potter, Black, Snape. Remain behind after the lesson.” Professor Sprout called.

As the lesson ended, Severus watched as the rest of the class trooped back up the castle and hovered close to the door, far away from where Potter and Black were muttering together.

“We didn’t do anything, Professor.” James protested.

“Yeah, it was  _ Snape _ !” Sirius added, gesturing to where he stood.

“Be quiet.” Professor Sprout said in an unusually harsh manner. “I saw what you were doing and I’m very disappointed in your behaviour. Twenty points from Gryffindor and you will both serve detention with me tomorrow night.”

“Tomorrow night? But Professor, I’ve got Quidditch practice!” 

“You’ll just have to miss it, won’t you Mr Potter? Now. Off you go. Mr Snape?” Severus stepped forward, ignoring the looks Potter and Black gave him as they pushed passed him on the way out of the greenhouse. “Is everything alright, dear?”

He blinked at her. “Er...yes.”

She looked conceredly at him. “You’ve been…a lot more, recently.” She couldn’t find the words but he knew what she meant. 

“Oh. Yeah. I’m just a bit tired.” He shrugged. “It makes it hard to sleep sometimes.”

“Perhaps you ought to see Madam Pomfrey, I’d rather not lose any more plants.” She smiled at him gently. “Well, off to dinner with you. Oh and Mr Snape.” He turned at the door. “Try not to let Potter upset you.”


End file.
